Category: Advanced Fighting Fantasy

A fun commission for a client- the Peter Jackson Hobbit film version of the Great Dragon- SMAUG! I really didn’t like the film design, but I think I was able to pull something good out of their design. Full disclosure, I love the Rankin Bass version of Smaug from 1977 better. I used the same square edge composition I did on “Skull King” for this one, and It had a really cool graphic design result to the final pencils.

Here are four creatures I’m doing for Arion Games Advanced Fighting Fantasy System which is an offshoot of another childhoold favorite of mine- the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook Series from Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. I loved this series of books as a kid in the early 80’s and it introduced me to Russ Nicholson’s amazing style of Pen and Ink which inspires me everytime I put ink to board! I still enjoy paging through these books today, and I hope my son can enjoy them in a few years when he can read, and roll some dice!

Im doing some fill in art for some of the old art that they were not able to get the reprint rights to, so it’s amazing to get my creature artwork into a book with some of the classic FF art that Russ did back in the 80’s. I love doing this old Fiend Folio style art, so it’s been a treat to visit these monsters!

Arion Games is doing a kickstarter here for the Creature Manual these pieces are for, the book is called BEYOND THE PIT 2

So if you want to read more about the Fighting Fantasy books here and I also enjoy reading a Fighting Fantasy Blog – great guys, and lots of fun catching up with them reviewing the books as they re-read them in 2013. You can read that blog here.